Shattered
by apishcan18
Summary: Squeal to Good Can Come From Bad. Ryan's eye isn't getting better and his girlfriend is getting worried. Spoilers for the episode Shattered.


Brief disclaimer: I don't own CSI:Miami or it's characters. I do lay claim to Sasha Pappas aka Stormy, Mattie Shaw and Betsy Brown. I'm making no money on this, yadda yadda yadda.

Warning: spoilers for Shattered.

Ok I know I haven't written errr posted anything in awhile. I'm sorry. Life got crazy. School, hiccups (four months and counting. Try staying sane while enduring those annoying things!) then moving. Yay. -note the sarcasm- This is, for the moment (I retain the right to change my mind), the last story in this series that will follow an actual episode. It's not the end of the series, don't worry. I'm currently playing with an idea and hoping that it will turn into something. Keep your eyes and ears open.

Again the name in the middle signifies that the following section is from that person's point of veiw. I hope it's not too confusing.

Shattered

Ryan

Fear pricked at me as I looked at the photos I'd taken earlier that day at a crime scene. They were all blurry. I couldn't remember taking blurry photos. Either my camera was broken or my eye wasn't getting better after having a nail shot into it. There had been moments when my sight hadn't been the best but I chalked it up to exhaustion. I had been working a lot lately.

"Something must be wrong with my camera," I murmured, still looking at the photos and avoiding Calleigh Duquesne's gaze.

Calleigh waited a moment before asking, "Is your eye ok?" She voiced the question that had been floating around in my mind for the last two weeks since the incident.

I looked up at her briefly before continuing to shift through the blurry photos. "Yeah, it's fine," I assured her none too confidently.

"Don't lie to me," Calleigh added a bit of forcefulness to her tone.

My head came up, my eyes connected with hers. "Calleigh, I'm fine," I repeated.

I looked back down at the photos. "I think I gotta get a new camera though," I added with a wry smile to cover my unease.

Unbidden the image of my fiancé, Sasha Pappas or Stormy as I call her, rose in my minds eye. Stormy was a vet who owned her own clinic with her best friend, Mattie Shaw. We meet in college. We were friends for five years before I finally got the courage to ask her on a date. We've only been engaged one week. If I lost my job… That thought scared me too badly to continue that train of thought. My eye was fine. It was the camera that was broken.

"You know what I think," Calleigh started.

I looked up at her, trying to stay optimistic.

"You should see a doctor," she finished.

I looked down at the photos and they convinced me she was right. I just wasn't going to the doctor she thought I was going to go to.

Sasha

I was swamped. The clinic was full to bursting and, with only Mattie and me, we were running between appointments.

Our secretary/receptionist, Betsy Brown, flagged me down after a routine checkup and before a post-surgery appointment.

"There was a call for you from a Calleigh Duquesne. She said it had something to do with Ryan. She left her number," Betsy handed me the message slip with the woman's number on it.

I stared down at it. What could she possibly want? I tried to not let my worst thoughts take over. Ryan had asked me to marry him. He wasn't cheating on me, had never cheated on me.

There was another possible reason for Calleigh's call.

Then panic griped me. Ryan had gotten into trouble at work. He was dead, shot, wounded. The image of Ryan with his swollen eye flashed through my mind. It had only been two weeks since he'd had the nail shot into his eye. Could he have gotten hurt again so soon?

"Thanks, Bets," I said woodenly before going to my office.

Wedding stuff dominated one of the chairs in front of my desk. I wondered if I was even going to get married now.

I sat down and dialed the number before I could stop myself.

As I waited for Calleigh to answer, I looked at the ring Ryan had given me. It was simple and beautiful. The band was silver with two interlocking hearts. One was silver like the band while the other was gold. It was perfect. I fell in love the moment I saw it. I couldn't believe Ryan had picked it out. Until Mattie fessed up and explained that Ryan had asked her to help him pick out the ring. I found it slightly amusing.

"Duquesne," the smooth voice of one Calleigh Duquesne interrupted my musings.

"Hi, Miss Duquesne, this is Sasha Pappas. My secretary told me you called?"

"Stormy, hello."

I was a bit shocked that she used Ryan's nickname for me. How had she known that little known fact?

"I called because something happened today. I think something is wrong with Ryan's eye. I'm hoping as his fiancé you'll be able to do what I can't seem to do and get him to see a doctor."

Now I was really shocked. She even knew we were engaged.

"What happened that made you think something is wrong with his eye?" I had to ask as a vet, it was almost programmed into me.

"Some of the crime scene photos he took were blurry. He tried to blame it on the camera not working but I don't really buy it."

Blurry photos. That could be a sign that something was wrong.

"I'll try my best to get him to see a doctor, Miss Duquesne," I promised, fear tugging at the edges of my mind.

"It's Calleigh and thank you. Oh and congratulations on your engagement."

"Thanks. I have a question. How do you know that Ryan proposed to me? Last I knew not many of his coworkers even knew we were dating."

"Ryan told Eric and Eric couldn't keep his mouth shut. Pretty much the whole lab knows."

"Wow. Thanks."

Mattie tapped lightly on the door and stuck her head in. _Hurry up_, she mouthed.

"Ummm I'm sorry, Calleigh, but I've got a patient waiting. Thank you for telling me about Ryan and I'll try my best to get him to a doctor."

"It's no problem, Stormy. Have a good day."

I hung up, wondering how I was going to get my stubborn fiancé to a doctor.

Ryan

"I assume I got this house call because you don't want an emergency eye examine on your county medical record," Alexx Woods, the Medical Examiner, noted as she looked into my formerly injured eye.

"Well you never know what some county doctor will come up with," I replied, thinking of Stormy and our future. "It's probably just some pink eye," I added, hoping it really was but not really believing even myself.

"Pink eye, huh?" Alexx leaned back to see better into my eye through the instrument she was using. "In the same eye you had a big rusty ass nail stickin' outta two weeks ago," she sounded incredulous.

I felt annoyed. "Do you have a diagnosis?" I asked.

"Yeah, you got an infection," Alexx quickly answered, turned to put her instrument back.

I paused to think about that. "An infection, that's not a big deal right?"

I could almost hear Stormy's voice in my head scolding me for making light of an infection in my eye.

Alexx's voice quickly joined that of my fiancées.

"An infection could be a sign of something more serious," the ME told me.

I looked down. Not good news.

"How are you feeling?" Alexx asked gently. "You got any headaches?"

I thought about it quickly. "No."

"What about your vision? Cloudiness? Sensitivity to light? Dark spots?"

It took me a few seconds longer to go though the list she'd rattled off and conclude that I had none of those symptoms. "No. No."

Alexx looked me seriously. "Ryan, you need to see an ophthalmologist. I know a good one."

I stopped to think about what Alexx said and to consider my options.

"If it was something," I started, afraid of the answer. "I'd lose my job, wouldn't I?" The thought depressed me.

Alexx looked back up at me. "Sweetie, right now you need to be worried about losing your eyesight."

Alexx paused and looked down, scribbling on a pad of paper. "More antibiotics. And I need you to take them for the full two weeks, none of this 'I-feel-better-so-I'm-going-to-stop' thing."

"Thank you, Alexx."

Alexx ripped the paper off the pad and held it in front of me. I reached for it but she yanked it back.

"I'm not done," she informed me. "Promise you'll make an appointment."

I looked down, fighting back a smile.

"Yes," I gave in.

Alexx finally allowed me to take the prescription, which I tucked into my jacket's inner pocket.

I hopped down off the table just as Alexx asked casually, "So what does your fiancée do?"

I froze. _Eric, you are a dead man_, I thought. Delko had been the only person in the lab who I'd told that I'd asked Stormy to marry me.

"She's a veterinarian," I answered slowly.

"How come you haven't talked about her before?"

I swallowed nervously. "It never really came up."

Alexx turned and gave me a look. "Really?"

"Sorry I didn't say anything Alexx."

Sasha

"Ryan, where are you?" I asked, tucking the phone against my shoulder so I could flip through the bridal magazine easier.

"I'm on my way, honey, don't worry," Ryan assured me with a laugh.

"Just hurry up, ok. I've got some ideas for the location of the wedding I want to run by you plus we need to talk about the wedding party."

Ryan sighed. "You're in full planning mode aren't you?"

"Of course I am. I've got six months to plan the wedding to the man I love. It has to be perfect."

"I'll be there soon."

"And I'll be waiting," I said cheerfully. I hung up.

The business card that sat on my coffee table seemed to mock me. I'd stopped by a doctor's office that Mattie had suggested, saying that her brother-in-law had seen him and he was pretty good, and picked up a card for Ryan. I wasn't sure how I was going to broach the subject of him actually going to see the doctor. Ryan didn't like doctors. I didn't blame him.

The door to my apartment opened and Ryan called out, "Stormy, honey?"

"In the living room, Ry," I called back.

He appeared moments later, looking tired and slightly stressed out.

"Hello," Ryan leaned down and gave me a kiss. "How was your day?"

I smiled at him. "It could have gone better. Sit down and I'll tell you about it before we get into wedding planning."

Ryan obediently sat. He draped an arm over my shoulders.

"OK. Tell me about your day."

"It was busy at the clinic. Mat and I were running everywhere. We've decided to hire some assistants who can do vitals and stuff to hopefully help lighten the load. But the weirdest part wasn't that we were so busy. Bets got a call while I was in an appointment from a Calleigh Duquesne. She wanted to talk to me about you."

Ryan shifted uneasily next to me.

"What did Cal want?" he asked, he sounded like he already knew the answer.

"She said she was worried about you. About your eye," I said quietly.

Ryan sighed. "She wants me to see a doctor."

"I know a good one."

"I saw one this afternoon. She gave some antibiotics and made me promise to make another appointment with another doctor."

"I know a good one. I've got his number."

"I'll call him tomorrow Stormy. I promise."

I felt like it had been too easy to get Ryan to commit to seeing Mattie's doctor but I wasn't going to press him about it.

"So on to something more fun," I said cheerfully. "Wedding planning."

Ryan groaned.

I giggled.

"Typical man," I teased.

Two Weeks Later

I stirred the soup while I waited for Ryan to answer to his cell phone.

"I'm coming, I'm coming," Ryan said in place of an actual greeting.

"I know that," I teased him, laughing. "I wanted to see if you could stop by a store and get some bread. I just discovered that mine has mold growing on it."

"You work too much."

"This coming from you."

"I'll get the bread. See ya soon, Stormy."

"I love you."

"I love you too."

I hung up and set the phone on top of the cookbook I had been using. The radio played quietly in the background, some jazz station Mattie had found the last time she'd been over.

I turned off the stove and wandered to the table. Dropping down into a chair, I wondered if Ryan had gone to see the doctor Mattie had suggested he see. Calleigh had called me again, wondering the same thing after seeing Ryan squint to see something. Worry knotted in my stomach, making me feel nauseous. What if Ryan lost his eye sight? What would we do then? He'd lose his job for sure. And I couldn't support the both of us on what I was making at the clinic. I'd have to go back to modeling. Ryan would hate that.

"Please, Ry, stop being so stubborn," I whispered to the empty room.

Ryan

I opened the door to Stormy's apartment and was greeted with silence. Well almost silence. I could faintly hear music playing.

"Stormy?" I called.

No answer.

I frowned. What was going on? I talked to her 20 minutes ago and everything had been fine then.

I walked to the kitchen to leave the bread there before going to find my fiancée. A pot of soup sat on the stove, the cookbook Stormy had been using was open with the phone on top of it.

I left the bread on the counter and looked in the living room. That's where I found her, curled up on the couch, sound asleep.

"Stormy, hun, wake up," I gently shook her to wake her up.

"Huh? Ry? Hey. Sorry I laid down for a minute and well, you know what happened," Stormy sat up, blinking the sleep from her eyes.

"Did you ever go see that doctor about your eye?" Stormy asked.

I sat down beside her. "I talked to him. He said to take the antibiotics I was given and if there were still some problems that I should make an appointment. He sounded nice," I said.

"Good. And you will go see him if you have any problems, right?" Stormy gave me a wide eyed look.

"I will, I promise. Everything will be ok Stormy."

"I'll hold you to that." Stormy leaned against me. "I know everything will be ok. As long you're here with me."

The End

Like it? Love it? Hate it? Push the little blue/purple button and review please. Thanks for reading. )


End file.
